"She never called to see": The Golden Bachelor's Gerry Turner opens up about ex-wife Theresa Nist's reaction to his cancer diagnosis

More revelations are coming from The Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner’s latest memoir, Golden Years: What I’ve learned from Love, Loss and Reality TV. 

He opened up about his cancer diagnosis and what the reaction was from his then-wife, Theresa Nist. 

The duo met on the sets of The Golden Bachelor season 1. 

They fell in love during the show and got engaged on the finale, which was aired in November 2023. 

Gerry and Theresa tied the knot in January 2024 during a special episode at the La Quinta Resort and Club in California.

Gerry was diagnosed with a type of bone marrow cancer called Waldenström's macroglobulinemia weeks before his divorce from Nist. 

He talked about his cancer diagnosis and also Theresa’s reaction. He said,

“I don’t remember her response, as Theresa remained pretty quiet on the phone. I do remember that she never called to see what was going on or how I was doing.”

The Golden Bachelor alum Gerry Turner got candid about Theresa and their relationship in his memoir 

Turner recounts the time when he was struggling with his diagnosis and called Theresa to tell her about his health update. 

He shared:

“On April 25, two weeks after we filed for divorce, I called Theresa to tell her about my health journey. Because all my good friends already knew the inside scoop, it seemed out of balance for her not to know as well."

He then continued and said that Theresa went quiet and did not call to check how he was doing or what was going on. 

Theresa's silence is what hurt Gerry the most, and he mentioned that it was painful. 

But he also does not remark that he has no expectation from her. 

He stated in his memoir, as reported by E!:

“I didn’t have any great expectations for Theresa or any of the other women when I shared what was going on with me, but to be that insignificant to someone I had married, albeit briefly, was very painful. We no longer talk; we have no reason to.”

But Theresa paints a different picture of Gerry informing her about his ailment. 

She shared her version of the incident on the Dear Shandy podcast on November 4, 2025:

“He presented it to me this way: ‘My doctor told me that I'm going to die of old age before this cancer will get to me'. He made it sound like it was nothing. So it wasn't as dire as he's making this out.” 

Gerry Turner has also unveiled many things about his relationship with Theresa during the show and while they were married. 

He mentions in his memoir that after their engagement in Costa Rica, he found it very difficult to talk to her. 

He added:

“Her tone and delivery were the same whether she was talking about a problem at work or about picking up her morning smoothie." 

Gerry was also not quite happy with her financial situation, which differed from what she had shared on The Golden Bachelor. 

He shared:

“I was a little resentful because her economic situation wasn’t at all what she had described on the show, leaving me to wonder what else I had misunderstood or she had misrepresented." 

He also wrote in his memoir that the two intended to live in South Carolina, but Theresa rejected all the houses he selected. 

Theresa did admit she did not like any of the houses Gerry picked on the Dear Shandy podcast, but also stressed that she did not try to increase the budget, as the book claims. 

Stay tuned for more such updates.